“It just got out of hand,” Liam said. “I know.”
I really had loved being there for him when he needed me. I liked being somebody’s rock, and I’d always seen that Liam was a diamond in the rough. His light would shine through, even during the darkest moments.
But he was right. I had only been able to withstand so much.
“Remember when you called me up frantically worried that you couldn’t get hard anymore?” I said.
“God, yes, I remember that,” he said. “I was terrified. Getting hard is literally the most important part of a porn star’s job.”
“You were practically crying,” I said.
He grinned. “And then you came over, wearing that black cowboy hat, and within a minute of your hand being on my cock…”
He trailed off and his words hung between us in the silence. Suddenly the air felt tighter, and the small bathroom felt like it was closing in on me.
Our bodies were way too close to each other. My heart was pounding again, so hard I was afraid Liam would be able to hear it. I couldn’t stop glancing down at his lips, berry-red and so plush.
I knew exactly how good it would be if I stopped resisting and let myself lean down and kiss him.
Being this close to him made me want to stop resisting. I kept thinking about kissing the top of his head, breathing in his scent, telling him that everything was going to be okay. Pressing my lips to his, feeling him open up to me. Having his tongue slide on my own. Showing him that it was going to be okay as I gave my body to someone who knew exactly what it needed.
The faint sound of the dogs playing in the living room carried through, and it snapped me out of my trance.
I gathered the Band-Aid wrapper and shoved it into the trash.
“Anna. Elsa. Are you two being nice out here?” I said, heading back down the hallway. My heart was still pounding, but it was easier to breathe as soon as I was back in the living room.
“Fuck, that is adorable,” Liam said from behind me. He pulled out his phone and snapped photos of the dogs, who were currently in a big couch cuddle-pile with all of the blankets surrounding them. Bandit was lying on his back, his paws in the air above him.
“They’re clearly best friends now,” I said.
“I like their names. Anna and Elsa. Are those your grandmothers’ names or something?” Liam asked.
I fixed my gaze on him. “Very funny,” I said.
He just stared at me blankly. “What?”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
He looked to one side of the room, then back to me. “No?”
“Holy shit. You’ve never seen it, have you?”
“Oh. Are they names of some heroines from an old western movie or something? I should have known.”
“You’ve never seen the modern classic movie Frozen? Liam, you’ve been worse off than I thought,” I said.
He started cracking up. “Wait a minute. You named your dogs after the movie Frozen?”
“I named my dogs Anna and Elsa after the most iconic pair of sisters that have been put to animated screens in the last twenty years, yes,” I said.
“Well, excuse me,” Liam said, his eyes shining. “I’ve been too busy getting fucked on film for the past ten years to see kids’ movies.”
“Frozen goes beyond age barriers,” I said. “And I’m not going to let you go on living life without seeing it.”
“I have no interest in cartoons,” Liam said, waving me off.
“You’ll be crying by the thirty-minute mark, I guarantee.”
“Bullshit.”
“Let’s make a bet.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Fine. I’ll watch Frozen with you, and if I cry, I’ll give you fifty bucks.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to take your money.”
“Then what’s the bet?”
Adrenaline flared through me. “If you cry, you owe me an explanation of why you finally quit drinking, and why you’re really in Amberfield. And... you will also owe me a formal promise that you won’t come into Red’s Tavern ever again.”
I immediately regretted saying it. I hated the way it made Liam’s expression grow sad, just for a moment, before he bit his bottom lip and nodded.
“Okay,” he finally said softly. “And if I don’t cry?”
“If you don’t cry, I will star in whatever stupid solo porn video you wanted me to do so badly,” I said.
His eyes shot wide open. “You will?”
“Yes. I’ll give you a contract in writing if you need it.”
“Red, don’t say things you’re going to regret.”
“I’m not going to regret it, because you are definitely going to cry at least three times in Frozen.”
“I don’t cry much these days,” Liam said.
“I seem to remember you crying very easily,” I said. “And I don’t know why you want me for one of your videos, anyway.”
“Because I know it would be the absolute best way to launch Hardy Productions,” Liam said. “Do you have any idea how many comments and views the old video of us still gets?”